The Big Gamble (Kevin Kerney)

Michael McGarrity's "The Big Gamble" is a fascinating and believable police procedural vividly set in New Mexico.Two bodies (seemingly unrelated) are discovered after a fire of dubious origin. One is an eleven-year-old cold case from Kevin Kerney's past. His estranged son is the primary for the other victim.The plot follows the pair of investigations that eventually uncover a huge ring of gambling, prostitution, drugs, money laundering and politicians. The villains are high-ranking politicos, plus one evil gunsel.A credible resolution that opens the possibility for continued pairing of Kerney and his son.This seventh book in the Kevin Kerney series is just as fresh as the first---one reason being that Kerney has held various positions in New Mexico law enforcement in different locales.Great series by a most under discovered writer.

I read this book in a single sitting. It's rarely I do that. I'm not sure how McGarrity does what he does, but he's consistent. I notice that other reviewers appreciate the "deepening" of Kevin Kerney's personal life, but I don't. I really don't care about his wife or his kid. I care about the mystery. Still, McGarrity is my favorite.

The real Kevin Kerney is back from the irreality of his previous case UNDER THE COLOR OF LAW. For the first time McGarrity splits the story between two cops: Chief Kevin Kerney of Santa Fe and his newly revealed son, Deputy Clayton Istee, 150 miles apart. New and old deaths are gradually interwoven in parallel to the reluctant yet beautifully described reconcilement of these two strangers. This is as much a Big Gamble for the two strong and silent men as are the casinos that figure in the scandalous plot. Maybe they will develop into a famous duo like Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Clayton may be a needed addition in the series because, with an entire police department now at his beck, Chief Kerney will have a hard time doing his old lonesome investigations that made his reputation as a maverick lawman. McGarrity's stories are not hidden clue mysteries a la Poirot; rather they are dogged police procedurals firmly driven by vivid local color. Here Kerney and Istee must tread carefully, from opposite ends, through personal, ethnic, and political, as well as gambling, sexual, and jurisdictional, minefields. It is McGarrity's ability to write believable plots and personalities that "feel real and right" that makes him a master, and this may be his best. It's curious how some publishers overly rely on spell checkers and miss homonyms; here Dutton drops occasional prepositions.

On a little traveled road in Lincoln County, New Mexico at the site of a burned down fruit stand, two bodies are found in the remaining rumble. One body is that of small time gambler Joseph John who recently struck it big on the reservation casino while the other corpse is that of Anne Marie Montoya, a woman who disappeared into thin air one decade ago.The primary on the Montoya case is Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney and the man in charge of the Humphrey investigation is Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. Although the two men are father and son, neither knew about the relationship until recently. Clayton would prefer to forget about the relationship but when the two cases intersect in an unexpected manner, the two men are forced to work together and take a step closer to forming a relationship.Like Tony Hillerman before him, Michael McGarrity puts the state of New Mexico on the map. His style is smooth, subtle and his storytelling abilities keep the reader in thrall, wondering what will happen next. THE BIG GAMBLE is no gamble at all for reader; it is a surefire winner for anyone who likes a fascinating police procedural.Harriet Klausner

For the legion of readers hooked on Michael McGarrity's crime fiction series featuring Kevin Kerney,it's going to be a great summer. The seventy installment in the highly anticipated series is on the shelves and it was worth the wait.The setting for the novel is southern New Mexico with it deserts and mountains that provide a breathtaking diversity of geographical wonders equal to any in the United States. Kerney is back as the Police Chief of Santa Fe and happily involved with his wife in plans to build a ranch house on property he bought after receiving a windfall inheritance. Despite inevitable problems associated with his wife, an Army office, being stationed in Kansas, pregnant, and not able to visit Kerney as often as either would like, Kerney is settled into a routine of police work typical to a tourist oriented town. It is, all in all, not bad duty for a career police officer with a bum leg. Not bad duty that is until his estranged son, A Deputy Sheriff in rural Lincoln County, is called to investigate an abandoned fruit stand fire that reveals the bodies of an itinerant Vietnam veteran and a Santa Fe woman that has been missing for eleven years. While the circumstances involving the deaths are suspect they appear to be unrelated until the subsequent investigation by Kerney and Deputy Clayton Istees, his son with an attitude, not only begin to converge but the discovery of two additional bodies leads the reader into a web of intrigue and mystery. The story leads the reader into the world of drug trafficking, illegal gambling, political intrigue, murder, and prostitution that reaches beyond southern New Mexico into California, Colorado,and Texas. The result is a crime thriller by who may be the best writer of the genre working today.In his trademark style of believable characters and narrative combined with an authentic southwestern setting, McGarrity has again demonstrated his unequaled grasp of the Southwest landscape both physically and culturally. His sense of place, inhabitants, and police procedure is meticulous and a must read for mystery fans.